A Marketing Plan for Life: 12 Essential Business Principles to Create Meaning, Happiness, and True Success

I've read thousands of books like this one, and had fairly low expectations when I started reading this book. After all, it doesn't pretend to break new ground with primary research. As you go through the 12 steps, you begin to realize that Fried is covering ALL the important things you should be working on. This is more than a checklist, it's a tool for life planning in a smart small package. I started off thinking this would be a good resource for my children and young adults (it is).. but before I was through, I was examining my own life choices, and found some great joy in most of it, with some concrete ideas about changes I'd like to make. I judge a book like this on it's ability to stimulate my thinking. One idea is worth the purchase price. However, in this case, I got WAY MORE than I bargained for... and a marketing plan for the rest of my life.

I have some how suddenly arrived in my early thirties and am busy with a career that has advanced in no particular direction; the "rudderless ship". By the time I was half way through the first chapter I was already feeling a more active influence on my own future. I highly recommend the book to anybody who is trying to master their own destiny. Or simply trying to make more time for important things that have become obscured by the pace of every day life. There is no need for a marketing / business education to "get" the lessons of A Marketing Plan for Life. The information and exercises in each chapter are very accessible. The anecdotes which are perfectly placed throughout illustrate how some of the greatest thinkers of all time commented on issues that the author has you exploring at that point in the book.

When a friend recommended this to me recently I was expecting Fried's Marketing Plan for Life to be a huckster-ish, self-help guide. Its basic premise is how to use analytical business techniques for personal and emotional self-assessment to help identify true life goals and figure out how to achieve them. This book helps you interpret your emotions, strengths and weaknesses in order to incorporate them concretely into everyday life. Too many of us save our best selves for work and never think about how to apply well-developed skills to personal advantage. So, instead of cynical self-help, Robert Fried's Marketing Plan for Life leads you to deep insight with a practical heart.

The work sheets, supporting text, and overall concepts contained in this book are presented in a very digestable manner. In a few hours one can begin to experience an "in control" feeling. Its like traveling a path to somewhere you have never been before. We look for signs to confirm our direction. What Fried's book does is provide proven techniques to define, not only where but HOW to get there ... the signs are in the book. The deeper value of "A Marketing Plan for Life" is the eventual realization that somewhere within the readers work experience bits and pieces of Fried's techniques are hiding behind a wall labeled .....work. "A marketing plan for life" tears down this wall and forever urges business people of all diciplines to merge business and personal solutions to the betterment of both life aspects.

Business is all about getting things done. Fried's simple but compelling idea is that we can apply the principals we've learned in business to the task of leading a more meaningful life. Like many good books, this one can be hard to read simply because it is so thought provoking. Peppered with quotes, personal observations and exercises, the book constantly challenges us to stop reading and start thinking. Fortunately, Fried writes in clear, concise, casual prose that lures us back whenever we wander. This is not a book for navel gazers or those looking for a scheme to get rich quick. Instead, it's a practical guide for ethical people who want to accomplish more in their lives.